EXE Files Don't Run From Explorer or Desktop

[th3politician]

About a week ago I realized that .exe files on my Windows 2000 workstation, whether through a shortcut, the start menu, or directly from a folder, dont run if I was in any Windows Explorer screen.

The only things that worked were folders, other files (i.e. - txts, docs, jpgs) and the Internet Explorer icon, which is wierd because IE is an exe. The only way they work right now is through Run in the start menu.

I tried repairing the windows installation to no avail. Im sure I have no virues. I know a clean install will fix it, but i dont want to do that.

What do you think the problem is?

[Curv Boll]

Hi there,

I was recently asked to look at someones comp.

It had exactly the same problem except that it was xp home.

Since no exe files would run there was not a lot i could do to resolve the problem

without formatting however, i did manage to run "HijackThis"

which supplied a log file of everything which was running on that machine, its a tiny application that does not need to be installed and produces a log file in less than a second. Ideal for this situation.

I took the log file home and there in front of me was one very infected pc.

There was loads of spyware on there, and i found 2 virus and 1 worm..sasser.

I am blaming the worm for the exe problem since its old hat for worms to corrupt exe files but i cant be sure.

When i went back to my freinds house a few days later i could no longer run

hijackthis which is a shame as that was required as the starting point to a fix.

Without being able to run that i had no choice but to reinstall.

If this is your choice, you might like the unattended install guide found here

which i have recently used and found to be a great guide.

www.unattended.msfn.org

You will ofcourse need a second pc to work on if you choose to correct your problem by using this guide, otherwise you will have to do a manual install.

You asked "what we think your problem is"?

I think your machine is covered in nasties!!

Good luck

it's times like these that i just love images.

C.B

[th3politician]

Thanks for the recommendation. I will definitely check that tomorrow.

It makes sense though, because I had a huge Sasser worm infection on my hands about 2 months ago. I managed to smart my way around it, got rid of it, and kept updating virus defs constantly. Ive been getting no sight of viruses since then, plus I keep Ad-aware updated too.

I hope its not a hibernating sasser somewhere.

Thanks for the help again.

[zprog]

Bigtime nasties. I hate viruses. They are such a pain. I hope that you can get your system fixed.

[MadGutts]

I hate all viruses, Worms and general nasties.....

.... But i hate the Creators More.

If there so **** good at wrighting these programs, they should put it to good use and wright some decent stuff that could be used elsewere for good.

However...

I have had exactly the same problem in 2k. I managed to download a fix though, when i had it it was a worm which didn't happen if you start up in safe mode. so once your into safe mode you can run the fix and its gone.

I don't know if this is any help or not, but it does sound like a worm to me.

[th3politician]

Which fix was it that you used? I wonder if itll help me.

About viruses...

For me, they always show up out of nowhere, and at times when I am heavily dependent onmy computer. Like last week on my XP machine at home, I got the Backdoor.Afcore.BN Trojan. I couldnt get rid of it, since it kept on restarting my rig. It was running out of a dll in the System32 directory.

After a couple of days of pulling my hair out, I ran the XP setup cd, entered the Repair Mode prompt and deleted the file. I was so glad. Just thought i can gloat about it here...

[th3politician]

I am blaming the worm for the exe problem since its old hat for worms to corrupt exe files but i cant be sure.

Weird. In my case, all the exe's run if you use the Run prompt from the start menu. Its just that from any windows screen, double-clicking on any exe-leading icon will not run the program.

For example, double-clicking on the shortcut leading to Notepad on my Desktop, OR going to \Windows\ and double-clicking Notepad.exe will NOT RUN Notepad.

But if I type in "C:\Windows\Notepad.exe" into the Run prompt in the Start Menu it WILL run.

One more thing...If you right click on the exe's in windows explorer to drop-down the alternate menu, you will not see an Open option. Everything else is there, My anti-virus and zip program options, other windows options, etc. But Open is not there.

Just thought you might want to know.

[LiquidSage]

a standard fix for exe trouble would be to use this reg file

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe]

@="exefile"

"Content Type"="application/x-msdownload"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe\PersistentHandler]

@="{098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile]

@="Application"

"EditFlags"=hex:38,07,00,00

"TileInfo"="prop:FileDescription;Company;FileVersion"

"InfoTip"="prop:FileDescription;Company;FileVersion;Create;Size"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\DefaultIcon]

@="%1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open]

"EditFlags"=hex:00,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open\command]

@="\"%1\" %*"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas\command]

@="\"%1\" %*"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\DropHandler]

@="{86C86720-42A0-1069-A2E8-08002B30309D}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\PEAnalyser]

@="{09A63660-16F9-11d0-B1DF-004F56001CA7}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\PifProps]

@="{86F19A00-42A0-1069-A2E9-08002B30309D}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\ShimLayer Property Page]

@="{513D916F-2A8E-4F51-AEAB-0CBC76FB1AF8}"

If that doesn't work, you probably do have spy/adware or a virus.

Also, you can rename exe to com and give it a try.

Maybe this File Association Fix file from the excellent site of Doug Knox would help as well.

[Phyridean]

I couldnt get rid of it, since it kept on restarting my rig.

Just FYI, a friend of mine got one of the many viruses that restarts your PC, and he found that "shutdown -a" (abort shutdown) was a very nice friend indeed.

Hope you get your EXE-ability back.

[th3politician]

Hey, thanks everyone for your help.

The EXE registry file association fix, that LiquidSage provided the link for, did the trick.

Again, thanks guys for all your help.

BTW...Phyridean where would you add the "shutdown -a" command? I mean I had absolutely no time to do anything about it because the computer would restart even before 50% of my systray was loaded...

[Phyridean]

BTW...Phyridean where would you add the "shutdown -a" command? I mean I had absolutely no time to do anything about it because the computer would restart even before 50% of my systray was loaded...

Shutdown -a is completely dependent on your skills as a typist (that's why I have a batch file to do it for me )...you'd have to get it in before the shutdown happened. Sounds like you'd have to either put it in a batch file on disk and then execute it as fast as you could, but otherwise you'd have to do it manually in a cmd window...

[th3politician]

thnx